Bob is IBM’s agentic assistant for software development. Instead of only autocompleting code, it takes part in the full lifecycle: understanding a codebase, planning changes, writing and reviewing code, generating tests, and helping with deployment. Different agents take on roles, such as architect or reviewer, and work inside the developer’s editor.
Enterprise use is the focus. IBM emphasizes security and governance, with protection against sensitive data leaks, policy enforcement, and testing of the AI for vulnerabilities. It routes tasks among several language models, including IBM’s own Granite family and models from other providers, and is positioned for modernization work such as moving older Java or COBOL applications.
IBM says it first rolled the tool out to tens of thousands of its own employees before making it generally available, and claims large productivity gains, which are self-reported. Bob is a paid product with trials and enterprise licensing. Alternatives include GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, Amazon Q Developer, and Google’s Gemini Code Assist. IBM Bob suits large organizations with regulated environments and legacy code.
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